A book entitled Italian Travellers in Việt Nam was launched on March 27 in Hà Nội.

The book in Vietnamese and Italian languages was compiled by Mario Sica, an Italian diplomat in Việt Nam (1965-68), who married his Vietnamese tutor.

“When I came to Viet Nam for the first time, the country was at war, but the biggest impression to me was not the war but Vietnamese culture,” said Sica at the book launching ceremony.

Sica said he became curious to know the observations of other Italians who had been to Việt Nam, hence the book, a collection of notes by Italian travellers from the time of explorer Marco Polo in the 13th century to the missionaries, naturalists, geographers, writers, diplomats of the 1950s and later.

Their stories were not expected to contribute more than the French, Portuguese, English and Americans who wrote about the country, but it is a kaleidoscope of unique and interesting views.